Colorado State smothers Fresno State, moves to 9-3 in league games with a 65-50 victory over the Bulldogs

DENVER — Colorado State continued its dominant stretch over Fresno State with a 65-50 victory over the Bulldogs. With the home win on Friday night, CSU has now won seven straight games against Fresno State. More importantly, though, the Rams have won three consecutive league games overall and have kept pace with the other Mountain West contenders after a couple of tough losses to UNLV and Wyoming. 

Here’s how it all went down. 

David Roddy, as he tends to be, was absolutely dominant for the Green & Gold in this one with 21 points, seven rebounds and eight assists, all of which led CSU, respectively. The junior guard/forward has been special all season but over the last four games he’s really solidified his case as a frontrunner for the conference player of the year. Going back to the start of the Wyoming game, Roddy has knocked down 37 of 60 attempts from the floor (62 percent) and has averaged 24 points, seven rebounds and three and a half assists per game over that stretch. 

When Roddy is able to score from all over the floor, not only does it make the Rams the most dangerous but it also opens up opportunities for his teammates, especially when opponents attempt to bring a double team. As we saw on Friday night, when Roddy is in his bag and producing for himself as well as his teammates, there just isn’t a whole lot that teams can do to slow him down. He’s confident with his handles and can create jump shots for himself, both in the mid-range and from beyond the arc. Roddy can absorb contact and finish down low, which is why defenders are hesitant to guard him too far from the hoop despite how deadly he’s been from deep; he’s not just athletic but has phenomenal touch to pair with it. And obviously, Roddy is an extremely gifted passer to boot, so even if you do trap him he can probably distribute the ball to a better spot elsewhere, something he did repeatedly against Fresno State. 

Roddy, when at his best, is basically unguardable. And that’s even against Fresno State, a team with a true 7-footer in Orlando Robinson, a guy that is widely viewed as the best NBA prospect in the league. Not to mention that Fresno State has made its team identity on the defensive end. Coming into Friday night, Fresno State owned the fourth-best scoring defense in the country at 57.6 points allowed per game, so the fact that Roddy was able to give them fits was significant.

Flipping things over to Fresno State, Robinson led the Bulldogs in scoring with 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the floor. After allowing him to produce 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the first 20 minutes, however, the Rams as a team did a pretty good job of adjusting and limiting his impact in the second half. They did better at keeping him off the offensive glass too, at least over the final 15 minutes, when the Rams ultimately slammed the door on Fresno State’s hopes of pulling an upset. Over the course of the game, the Bulldogs were far more effective in that regard, though, and finished with 10 more offensive rebounds in a losing effort (12 vs. 2). If there’s any area where the Rams need to improve the move, it would be there. The bright side is CSU is coming off a road win in which the Rams only allowed two offensive rebounds, so we know they’re capable of getting it done. 

Finally, along with another stellar outing from Roddy, the Rams benefited from a huge second half out of Isaiah Stevens. He finished with 14 points, three rebounds and three assists but he did more than half of the damage after halftime. While he was fairly quiet early and it showed on the scoreboard, his aggressive approach coming out of the break really helped set the tone for what ended up being a dominant final 20 minutes from CSU on both ends of the floor. 

James Moors (11 points) and John Tonje (10 points) rounded out CSU’s leading scorers in the win. As a team the Rams shot 52 percent from the floor overall (27-of-52) and 33 percent from 3-point range (5-of-15). They were particularly solid in the paint, finishing with 16 more points down low than their opponent (40 vs. 24). The Rams only recorded three turnovers as well, which is a season-low and even more impressive when factoring in the quality of the defense they were facing. 

Defensively, CSU was patient and didn’t get baited into fouls by Fresno State’s slow pace while operating out  of the half-court offense. Obviously any time you can hold an opponent to 35 percent shooting and 50 total points, you’re doing something right. Only allowing eight free throws to a team with an elite big like Robinson is noteworthy though.

After a convincing home win over one of the better teams in the Mountain West, CSU will attempt to move to 3-0 in a seven day span when the Rams face the Boise State Broncos on the road Sunday afternoon. A win would give CSU its third consecutive 20 win season, something the program has never done before.